Commitment As A Mediator Of The Relationship Between Trust And

Journal of Business Studies Quarterly
2015, Volume 6, Number 3
ISSN 2152-1034
COMMITMENT AS A MEDIATOR OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
TRUST AND RELATIONSHIP LOYALTY TO RETAILER
Zhioua Amani, Higher Institute of Languages of Nabeul,
University of Carthage, Tunisia
Abstract
The objective of this research is to detect the influence of trust on the consumer’s affective,
continuance and normative commitment as well as their effect on the consumer’s responses to
dissatisfaction and counter persuasion. A study with 295 consumers was realized. A structural
equation model was used to measure causality between latent variables. Factor analysis was
used to assess the structure of employed measurement scales. The result showed that trust has a
positive effect on the consumer’s affective, continuance and normative commitment. However,
sole affective commitment has a significant impact on consumer’s responses to dissatisfaction
and counter- persuasion.
Keywords: Trust, Relationship loyalty, Commitment, Responses to dissatisfaction and counterpersuasion, Retailer.
Introduction
Nowadays, the consumer is becoming increasingly demanding, since it is well informed
by the suppliers (publicity, etc) and by the distributors (point-of-sale advertising, leaflet, store,
etc). They are placed in front of a wide range of products, brands and retailers with various offers
and quality of service. The consumer behavior becomes unstable and unpredictable. The
consumers’ resistance movements multiply (boycotts). Retailers realized that loyalty became a
strategic key. Indeed, it is more advantageous to retain the existing customers, since the conquest
of a new customer is more expensive than the development of consumer loyalty of the current
customers (Knox, 1999).
The loyalty theory is very rich. Certain researchers ended to the development of
behavioral models worried by the observation of the frequency and the proportion of purchase of
the brand and attitudinal models intended to measure the preference with the brand. In spite of a
significant number of researches on this topic, the apprehension of the concept is still ambiguous.
Thus, true loyalty does not seem to be completely taken into account (Baker and Yao, 1997;
Baker, 1998). The nature of the consumer is complex since it is influenced by a number of
psychological, socio demographic, economic and cultural factors. Moreover, the consumer
behavior became more rational, less faithful and more emotional, which makes the consumer
more sensitive to the price, less faithful, and who attaches significance to emotions and relations
(Pras, 1997). In addition, the consumer increasingly displays opportunist behavior, emits
negative worth of mouth and often complains, when it is dissatisfied.
The marketers thus find a difficulty to attract their customers through acting on their
behavior or attitude. Actions on the behavior aim at encouraging the customers to buy from the
same retailer and to increase the volume of the sales while the actions on the attitude try to
support a retailer favorable attitude while acting on the elements of marketing mix.
So the relational aspect proves a paramount axis of development of consumer loyalty.
The concept of loyalty is not based on the succession of purchases or on the retailer preference
any more. It became centered on a relational concept with knowing the customer commitment to
retailer. However, relationship loyalty can only be reached by the development of a relation
based on trust between the customer and the retailer. More than ever, the development of durable
relations with the consumers seems synonym of competitiveness and profitability for the unit of
brands and retailers (Fornell, 1992; Rust et al., 1995) where the brands and retailers will to
create, reinforce and look further into their networks of relations with the consumers.
This research is subscribed within the scope of a relational approach recognizing loyalty
as a multi-dimensional concept integrating the commitment, as a relational facet and propensities
of the customer to behave face to dissatisfaction or counter-persuasion, as a behavioral facet.
What differentiates the current research from the former is threefold. Initially, it is a question of
taking into account of a bi-dimensional design of trust, which distinguishes credibility from
benevolence.
Secondly, former research on the consumer commitment focused on the affective and
calculative commitment and did not introduce the normative commitment into their analysis. The
contribution of this research lies in the fact of studying the commitment as a three-dimensional
concept integrating normative dimension.
Finally, recent studies showed that the trustful customers to retailer are not all
relationship loyal (Zhioua and Debabi, 2011). The relation with the consumer is characterized by
their brittleness following the situations of customer dissatisfaction and the competitors’ offers
(Zhioua and Debabi, 2011; N’Goala, 2010). We therefore focus on consumer responses to
dissatisfaction and counter- persuasion.
Thus, the model suggested rests on the fact that the commitment in its various affective,
calculative and normative facets plays a mediator role between trust, on the one hand, and,
consumer responses to dissatisfaction and counter-persuasion, on the other.
After presenting the theoretical framework of the research, we discuss the methodology of the
empirical study, conducted among 340 clients of a Tunisian retailer specialized in the sale of
cosmetic products in free services. Then, we present the results and their interpretation.
I-Theoretical Framework of the Research
I-1-The concept of loyalty
Loyalty is an old and central idea in marketing. However, it remains a poorly understood and
measured concept (Dubois and Laurent, 1999). Several loyalty approaches have been proposed.
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- A behavioral approach, which is based on the observation of actual or reported behavior
(Brown, 1952; Cunningham, 1961; Guadagni and Little, 1971, Ehrenberg and Goodhart, 2000)
or the analysis of past behavior to predict future behavior (Aaker and Jones, 1971; Uncles and
Ehrenberg, 1988.1990).
- Attitudinal approach, which integrates the attitude in loyalty (Jacoby, 1971; Fishbein and
Ajzen, 1975).
- A mixed approach linking the behavioral and attitudinal dimensions of loyalty (Day, 1969;
Jacoby and Keyner, 1973 Dick and Basu, 1994, Simon, 2000; Bandyopadhyay and Martell,
2007).
- A relational approach, which realizes both ongoing relationships and specific situations
(N'Goala, 2003, 2010, Plank and Newell, 2007; Stramek et al, 2007).
In this research, we focus on the retailer relationship loyalty. The latter is defined as the strength
of the relationship between commitment and repeat purchase behavior (Davis-Stramek et al,
2007). Commitment is the affective dimension of loyalty (Mahoney et al, 2000) while the
repeated purchase behavior reflects the conative dimension. In the context of banking, N'Goala
(2000, 2003) proposed a conceptualization of relationship loyalty which has the originality to
take into account, in addition to the client’s commitment, responses to dissatisfaction and
counter-persuasion as manifestations of relationship customer loyalty to retailer. Based on our
study, the customer relationship loyalty to retailer represents an affective commitment that
translates into favorable propensities to behave in situations of purchase and consumption. Six
responses to customer critical situations were identified: tolerance to dissatisfaction, complaints,
negative word of mouth, opportunism, change and participation in the definition of products and
services of retailer.
To our knowledge, no research has considered the multi-dimensional commitment in the
conceptualization of relationship loyalty to retailer. The contribution of our research comes at
this level, which tries to integrate normative commitment and continuance commitment in the
conceptualization of customer relationship loyalty to the retailer.
The commitment is a concept borrowed from social psychology (Festinger, 1957;
Kiesler, 1971; Kelley, 1983), which was applied to the field of marketing. Affective commitment
has been extensively studied in the context of relationship marketing (Morgan and Hunt, 1994;
Kumar et al, 1995; Gundlach et al, 1995). It is an emotional commitment reflects a psychological
attachment to the partner (Geyskens et al, 1996; Bello and Gilliland, 2002; Verhoef et al, 2002;
Sweeney and Swait, 2008).
In contrast, continuance commitment reflects the need to maintain the relationship due to
perceived switching costs (Bansal and Taylor, 1999a, 1999b, Fornell, 1992; Ping, 1993, Jones et
al, 2000; Sharma and Petterson, 2000) and the unattractiveness of alternative offers (Bansal and
Taylor, 1999; Dube and Shoemaker, 2000; Jones et al, 2000; Sharma and Patterson, 2000).
However, normative commitment is the result of a socialization process in which the individual
incorporates standards from its immediate surroundings or of his social environment (Dwyer et
al, 1987; Heide and John, 1992; Gundlack and Murphy, 1993).
The majority of researchers studying the consequences of the concept of commitment
focused on the effect of affective commitment on the consumer's behavioral responses. Many
studies have shown that affective commitment positively influences customer retention
(Anderson and Weitz, 1992; Morgan and Hunt, 1994; Sheth and Parvatiyar, 1995; Bendapudi
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and Berry, 1997; Joshi and Arnold, 1997; Gremler and Bitner , 1998; Garbarino and Johnson,
1999; Gruen et al, 2000; Fullerton, 2003; Bansal et al, 2004). It was also demonstrated that
affective commitment positively acts on the customer’s predisposition to act in the interest of his
partner relationship (Fullerton, 2003; Harrison-Walker, 2001). In addition, there is a link
between affective commitment and the consumer’s predisposition to the consent (Morgan and
Hunt, 1994) and especially the acceptance of higher prices (Fullerton, 2003). Other research
supports a negative relationship between affective commitment and intentions of the change of
the partner (Fullerton, 2003, 2005, Bansal et al, 2004; Sweeney and Swait, 2008).
The results of studies on the relationship between commitment and complaint are
inconclusive. However, most research have shown that complaint is positively related to
commitment. Based on the results of Ross (1999), Bove and Robertson (2005) and N'Goala
(2010), this paper assumes that affective commitment is positively associated with the client’s
constructive complaint.
Few studies have linked affective commitment and sacrifice. In the context of social
psychology, commitment is positively associated with the "will of Sacrifice", which was defined
as the act of "surrender its own immediate interests to promote the welfare of the partner or the
relationship "(Van lange et al, 1997).
Park et al. (2010) posited that consumers who are attached to a brand actively invest their
own resources in the brand to maintain their brand relationship. Thus, consumers will be willing
to expend resources of their own such as financial and time resources. As part of the retailercustomer relationship, affective commitment is reflected in a higher tolerance to dissatisfaction
in case of dissatisfaction (N'Goala, 2003).
Opportunism has been the subject of several studies in the business to business context.
The commitment-opportunism relationship was also studied. In fact, the asymmetric
commitment is one of the determinants of opportunism (Gundlach et al, 1995). In the context of
services, clients who affectively committed to the retailer do not have opportunistic behavior in
case of a more attractive offer from the competitor (N'Goala, 2003). In addition, according to
Steenhaut Kenhove and Van (2005), affective commitment implies the rejection of opportunism.
In the same direction of these studies, this research proposes a negative effect of affective
commitment on opportunism.
Negative word of mouth describes an active response from the client. The latter tries to
inform others of his unsatisfactory experience (Singh, 1990). The majority of researches
examining the relationship between commitment and word of mouth focuses on the positive
influence of affective commitment on positive word of mouth(Walker et al, 2001; kazemi et al,
2013;Sallem, 2014). Few studies of word of mouth have focused on the link between
commitment and negative word of mouth. Jones and al (2007) suggest that consumer affective
commitment leads to avoiding negative word of mouth.
For his part, N'Goala (2010) argues that more customers are affectively committed to the
retailer less than those who engage in negative word of mouth.
However, there is an association between customer’s commitment and customer’s
voluntary behaviors. According to Kelley, Donnelly and Skinner (1990), affective commitment
refers to the participation in the production and delivery of service. Furthermore, the findings of
Kim, Ok, and Gwinner (2010) supported the view that affective commitment enhanced the
customers’ cooperative behavior.
For his part, Bettencourt (1997) suggests that customer commitment is positively related
to its participation in the definition of products and services of the company. The recent study of
Yang et al (2014) shows that affective commitment relates positively to participation.
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From this literature review, we suggest the following hypotheses:
H1: affective commitment positively influences the client’s constructive complaint to retailer.
H2: affective commitment positively influences the sacrifice of consumer face to dissatisfaction.
H3: affective commitment negatively influences the customer negative word of mouth.
H4: affective commitment negatively influences the client’s opportunism.
H5: affective commitment negatively influences the change of customer against counterpersuasion.
H6: affective commitment positively influences the client's participation in the definition of
products and services of the retailer.
The continuance commitment has a negative influence on the consumer’s intentions to
change suppliers (Fullerton, 2003; Sweeney and Swait, 2008). Thus, clients who feel trapped in a
relationship find a difficulty in changing supplier (Anderson and Weitz, 1992; Gundlach et al,
1995). Similarly, the perceived ease of rebranding promotes turnover intentions (Bansal and
Taylor, 1999). Few studies have examined the impact of the normative aspect of the commitment
to change to counter-persuasion. However, the hard work of Bansal et al (2004) showed that
normative commitment influences negatively intentions to change the partner.
H7: continuance commitment negatively influences the change to counter-persuasion.
H8: normative commitment negatively influences the change to counter-persuasion.
I-2-Trust: a determinant of commitment
Trust is presented as a central element in the development and maintenance of the relationship
between the two exchange partners in different contexts (Sirdeshmukh et al, 2002; Verhoef et al,
2002). It is a belief, a feeling or expectation confronting the exchange partner that results from its
expertise, reliability and intentionality (Ganesan, 1994). The literature review has highlighted the
lack of consensus on the number of dimensions of trust. We suggest considering a bidimensional approach of trust consistent with the work of Ganesan (1994). This author has
focused on two dimensions, credibility and benevolence, to study the relationship of trust
between the seller and the buyer. The originality of the work lies in the fact that he studied the
relationship and the determinants of trust as well as through the eyes of the buyer to the seller.
Credibility reflects the willingness of the customer to rely on the competence and reliability of a
service provider (Moorman et al, 1992, Rempel et al, 1985), while benevolence reflects the
motives and intentions of the partner of the exchange and instead includes the qualities,
characteristics and intentions of the partner (Ganesan, 1994).
Trust is seen as a key variable in the success of the relationship. In addition, a consensus
seems to exist on the fact that trust is a major determinant of the commitment of an individual in
a given relationship (Dwyer et al, 1987; Moorman et al, 1993; Morgan and Hunt, 1994;
Gundlach and al, Garbarino and Johnson, 1999; Walter and Ritter, 2003; Lohtia et al, 2005,
Cater & Zabkar, 2008; Stanko et al, 2007; Alrubaiee, L, 2012). Several other researchers have
concluded about the positive influence of trust on affective commitment (Goodman and Dion,
2001; Moorman et al, 1992; Tellefsen and Thomas, 2005; Cater and Zabkar, 2009, Cater, Cater
T, B, 2010). Studying continuance commitment, the majority of researchers have found a
negative relationship between trust and continuance commitment (De Ruyter, Moorman and
Lemmink, 2001, De Ruyter and Wetzels, 1999 Geyskens et al, 1996, Gounaris, 2005). Finally, in
the same way as De Ruyter and Semeijn (2002) and Sharma et al (2006) and Cater, Cater T, B
(2010), we propose a positive relationship between trust and normative commitment. The
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customer is more confident, he feels a moral obligation to maintain the relationship with the
retailer.
Based on our results of these studies on the one hand and the guided design of bidimensional trust distinguishing the credibility and benevolence (Ganesan, 1994) on the other,
we make the following assumptions:
H9: credibility positively influences the customer’s affective commitment to the retailer.
H10: benevolence positively influences the customer’s affective commitment to the retailer.
H11: credibility negatively influences the customer’s continuance commitment to the retailer.
H12: benevolence negatively influences the customer’s continuance commitment to the retailer.
H13: credibility positively influences the customer's normative commitment to the retailer.
H14: benevolence positively influences the customer’s normative commitment to the retailer.
I-3-The mediating role of commitment in the relationship trust-relationship loyalty to
retailer
The literature review showed the evolution of relational models of loyalty and allowed us
to raise the mediating role of commitment in the relationship between the customer and the
retailer (Morgan and Hunt, 1994; Frisou, 1998; N'Goala, 2000; Aurier, Benavent and N'Goala,
2001). Alrubaiee et Alnazer (2010) suggest that in the relationship marketing literature, the
concept of commitment plays a central role, as it is a major characteristic of relationship
marketing models.
Our research model (Figure 1) is based on the fact that trust fosters commitment and that
commitment acts on the consumer side reactions to dissatisfaction or to counter persuasion. The
commitment appears to be a mediating variable in the relationship trust- consumer responses to
the dissatisfaction and counter-persuasion. Thus, the commitment under its affective, normative
and continuity forms, mediates the effect of trust on the client's responses to dissatisfaction and
counter persuasion1. The following hypothesis is suggested:
H15: The commitment mediates the effect of trust on the manifestations of relationship loyalty.
1
Given the two-dimensionality of trust, the multi-dimensionality of the concept of commitment (affective,
continuity, normative) and manifestations of relationship loyalty (opportunism, negative word of mouth, complaint,
participation in definition of products and services, change to counter- persuasion, sacrifice to dissatisfaction), we
should check the following relations:
H15-1: affective commitment mediates the effect of credibility on the manifestations of relationship loyalty.
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Figure 1: Conceptual model of trust-relationship loyalty to retailer
Affective
 11
Sacrifice to
dissatisfaction
Y4
β14
commitment
β15
Y1
Credibility
X1
 12
β16
 13
β17
Normative
commitment
 21
Benevolence
X2
Complaint
Y5
 22
β18
Y2
Negative word of
mouth
Y6
β19
 23
β29
Opportunism
Y7
Continuance
commitment
Y3
β39
Participation
Y8
Change to
counter- persuasion
Y9
II-Research Methodology
II-1 - Methodological choices
To answer our research question, we conducted a survey of a sample of clients of a
Tunisian retailer specialized in the sale of cosmetic products on free service. Given that the
retailer does not have all the files of its customers, the probability of sampling method was not
used. Therefore, we used the non probability sampling method, especially the method of
convenience.
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Following the recommendations of Hair et al (1998), the sample size was set at 330
individuals. However, only 295 questionnaires were analyzed and discussed. The survey took
place inside the outlets to the output boxes when customers were preparing to leave the store.
The sample comprised 87.5 per cent of women and 12.5 percent of men. Regarding the age of
customers of the retailer "Fatales", we find that half of the customers surveyed are less than 30
years. In addition, customers from 30 to 50 years represent 32, 5% of the sample while guests
over 50 years represent only 16.9% of the sample.
Table: Distribution of Respondents
Age
Socio-professional category
Gender
Female
87,5
-30 years
50,6
Male
12,5
30-50
32,5
50+ years
16,9
Total
100
Middle management level
Senior
Student
Licensed professionals
Others
100
34,6
19
31,9
7,1
7,5
100
II-2 - Measurement scales variables
To operationalize the variables, a qualitative study allowed us to adapt existing scales in
the literature related to our research topic.
The chosen scale of trust based on the scales of social psychology of Larzelere and Houston
(1980) and Rempel et al (1985), on the scale of Gurviez and Korchia (2002) in the framework of
consumer-brand relationship. The established scale to measure affective commitment was
inspired by the organizational literature and especially scales of O'Reilly and Chatman (1986)
and Allen and Meyer (1990). Two dimensions were selected: identification and loyalty. The
scale of Allen and Meyer (1990) was adopted to measure continuance commitment and
normative commitment. To measure the complaint, we referred to the scales of Ping (1993) and
Zeithaml (1996).
The established scale to measure negative word of mouth, based on the scale of N'Goala
(2000), was inspired by positive word of mouth scale of Zeithaml et al (1996).
The scale of participation in the definition of products and services is a compressed version of
that of Bettencourt (1997). For the operationalization of short-term sacrifice and opportunism,
we opted for scales of Ping (1993) and N'Goala (2003). The scale of Ping (1993) was used to
measure the change to counter-persuasion.
III-Results
III-1 - Purification and validation of measurement scales
A principal component analysis with varimax rotation was performed for each scale.
Items with low factor contributions (values less than 0.6) and those whose contributions were
shared between factorial axes are eliminated. The results indicate that trust is bi-dimensional: it
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includes credibility and benevolence. The commitment is tri-dimensional: it integrates the
affective, normative and continuity dimensions, while the responses of consumers to purchasing
situations and consumption are six in number namely sacrifice, complaint, negative word of
mouth, opportunism, change and participation in the definition of products and services. For each
size, internal reliability was calculated through Cronbach's alpha, which allows us to remove
items that deteriorate the reliability of the measurement scale of the concept. Ten items were
therefore eliminated. Internal consistency scores are between 0.85 and 0.94, which is acceptable
within the meaning of Nunnally's (1978). Next, a confirmatory factor analysis was carried out, in
Amos 4.0, to test reliability, convergent validity and discriminate validity of measurements.
Approach of Fornell and Larker (1981) was adopted. The test of reliability using Rho de
Joreskog confirms the results of the Cronbach's alpha. Indeed, rho Jöreskog coefficient is greater
than 0.8 for all scales. In addition, the values of this coefficient exceed the majority of cases the
threshold of 0.9. In addition, convergent validity is considered very good given that < of
convergent validity values are higher than 0.5 (Fornell and Larker 1981) (0.592 < vc <0.826).
Discriminate validity is also checked. Indeed, rho of convergent validity values (vc) exceeds the
square shared correlations with the other constructs except the scale of the affective commitment.
Thus, the squared correlation of affective commitment with other variables losses are all less
than index (vc
of affective commitment to the exception of affective commitment with
normative commitment, which remains above vc (vc = 0.652 <r ² = 0.74). This result confirms
the one of Bansal al (2004), that the normative commitment is highly correlated with affective
commitment.
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Table 1 shows results summary of this analysis.
variables
rhô of Jôreskog () of convergent
validity (vc)
Discriminant validity
credibility
0,919
0,738
0,72
benevolence
0,836
0,631
0,56
Affective commitment
0,903
0,652
0,74
continuance
commitment
0,912
0,775
0,6
normative commitment
0,896
0,741
0,07
complaint
0,813
0,592
0,23
sacrifice to
dissatisfaction
0,918
0,789
0,05
Negative word of
mouth
0,901
0,819
0,11
change to
counter-persuasion
0,924
0,802
0,23
0,929
0,812
0,23
0,905
0,826
0,007
participation in the
definition of products
and services
opportunism
III-2 - Hypothesis testing
After checking reliability as well as convergent and discriminant validity of concepts’
measurement scales, we present the results of the estimate structural equations model. To check
the statistical significance of the relationships defined by the theoretical model, it is important to
show the match between the theoretical model and empirical data. This involves evaluating the
adjustment quality of the model through a review of adjustment indices. The adjustment indices
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used (GFI = 0.82, AGFI = 0.79, RMR = 0.217, RMSEA = 0.06, TLI = 0.92, CFI = 0.92, normed
X ² = 2.3, IFI = 0.92) are satisfactory given the complexity of the model and the high number of
parameters.
The Student test (CR) is used to test the significance of the causal relationships between
the variables (t> 1.96, p <0.05). However, the regression coefficients are used to evaluate the
direction of the relationship.
Results of significance tests of relationships between commitment facets and consumer
responses to dissatisfaction and to counter- persuasion shows that affective commitment fosters
complaint ( 15 = 0.32, CR = 4.859, p <0.05), short-term sacrifice ( 14= 0.16, CR =2.58, p<0.05)
and participation in the definition of products and services (( 18 = 0.23, CR = 3.695, p <0.05).
However, it is possible to speak about the existence of a significant negative relationship
between affective commitment on one hand, and negative word of mouth ( 16 =- 0.23, CR=- 3.7,
p <0.05), opportunism ( 17 = -0.17, CR = -2.39, p <0.05), and change to the counter- persuasion
( 19 = - 0.48, CR = -5.15, p <0.05), on the other. This legitimizes the validation hypotheses H1,
H2, H3, H4, H5 and H6.
However, the influence of continuance commitment on change to counter-persuasion
(H7) has not been verified. The tested relationship is not found to be significant. Similarly the
impact of normative commitment to change to the counter-persuasion is not confirmed (H8).
t value justifies the significance of link (CR = 2.95, p <0.05) between the two concepts.
However, this relationship is positive ( 29 = 0.29). We can conclude about the reversal of
hypotheses H7 and H8.
Affective commitment is positively influenced by credibility (11 = 0.5, CR = 9.562;
p<0.05) and benevolence (21 = 0.67, CR = 11.736, p <0.05). Similarly, there is a positive
relationship between credibility and benevolence, on the one hand and normative commitment,
in the other (12 = 0.25, CR = 5.291, p <0.05), (22 = 0.78, CR = 13.425, p <0.05). The
hypotheses H9, H10, H13 and H14 are thus confirmed. However, the hypothesis H11 related on
the negative influence of credibility of continuance commitment (13 = 0.14, CR=3.086, p <0.05)
and the hypothesis H12 regarding the impact of benevolence on continuance commitment
(23=0.82) were not validated.
The hypothesis H3 postulates that commitment mediates the effect of trust on consumer
responses to dissatisfaction and counter-persuasion.
A Test of the mediating role of commitment is produced by the process of Baron and Kenny
(1986). However, given the multi-dimensionality of the concepts of trust, commitment and
manifestations of relationship loyalty, the mediating role of commitment is tested in a partial
manner.
Results (Table 2) show that the credibility exerts a significant influence on different
consumer responses to dissatisfaction and counter persuasion. Moreover, the effect of
benevolence on complaint, change to counter-persuasion and participation in the definition of
products and services is significant. In addition, the influence of trust on commitment is positive
and significant. Then, the influence of affective commitment on manifestations of relationship
loyalty as well as the influence of normative commitment on consumers’ propensity to change to
counter-persuasion is significant. However, continuity commitment does not exert significant
influence on change to counter persuasion. Finally, affective commitment tends to reduce the
direct influence of credibility on consumer responses to critical situations and normative
commitment tends to reduce the direct effect of trust on change to counter persuasion.
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It is therefore possible to comment on the mediating role of affective commitment in the
relationship between credibility and responses to dissatisfaction and counter-persuasion, and the
role of normative commitment as a variable mediating the relationship between trust and change
to counter-persuasion. However continuance commitment does not play a mediating role in the
relational model of loyalty to retailer.
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Table 2: Test of the mediating role of affective commitment in the relationship loyalty model
Indirect influence of
relationship
direct influence of trust on
manifestations of
relationship loyalty
Empirical relationships
credibility
complaint


benevolence
complaint


Estimated value
0,49
- 0,11
CR
7,74
affective commitment
Estimated value
0,47
- 1,98
- 0,12
CR
4,35
trust on manifestations of
loyalty
normative commitment
Estimated value
CR
-1,76
 sacrifice
credibility 
to dissatisfaction
0,18
2,86
0,08
0,79
 sacrifice
benevolence 
to dissatisfaction
0,01
- 0,19
0,003
0,05
 negative
credibility 
word of mouth
- 0,27
- 4,29
- 0,16
-1,61

benevolence 
negative word of mouth
0,01
0,18
0,06
 change to
credibility 
counter- persuasion
-0,5
- 8,37
- 0,4
- 4,42
- 0,43
-5,67
 change
benevolence 
to counter- persuasion
0,2
3,71
0,23
3,65
0,1
1,42

credibility 
participation to the definition
of products and services
0,39
6,56
0,27
2,84

benevolence 
participation to the definition
of products and services
-0,18
-3,1

credibility 
opportunism
- 0,15
-1,97
- 0,01
- 0,16
0,03
benevolence
opportunism


- 0,01
- 0,21
156
0,85
-3,11
- 0,14
0,48
VI-Discussion
Many studies have shown that trust is a major determinant of customer commitment to
retailer. However, compared with previous research, our conclusion is enhanced by the
integration of three facets of commitment and two dimensions of trust. Thus, the perceived
credibility and benevolence tend to increase clients’ affective and normative commitment to
retailer. Consumers perceive their brand as honest and competent. Therefore, they develop a kind
of attachment to it and think it would not be fair to leave, if a competing retailer was a better
deal. In addition, both facets of trust positively influence the continuance commitment. This
result does not reach that of Gounaris (2005), which states that more the customer is confident,
the lower its continuity commitment is. It can be explained by the fact that, in the context of
Tunisia, there are two brands that offer more or less similar deals. Thus, the more the customer is
confident to"Fatale", the more he will maintain his relationship with her, since the lack of
alternative attractive offers.
Then, in the context of relationship customer loyalty to retailer, we find that single
client’s affective commitment has a significant influence on each propensity of consumers to
behave in a situation of dissatisfaction or counter-persuasion. Customer’s affective commitment
to retailer tends to favor its tolerance to dissatisfaction, constructive complaint, participation in
the definition of products and services and to reduce the emission of negative word of mouth,
opportunism and willingness to change retailer to counter-persuasion.
Affective commitment is a key element in creating and maintaining relationship loyalty.
Customer belonging and attachment to retailer would be a necessary condition for developing a
relationship loyalty to retailer. This result shows that retailer should ensure that the client is
affectively committed to it, to behave in a favorable manner toward situations of dissatisfaction
or attractive offering and therefore strengthen its long term loyalty.
Trying to know if both normative commitment and continuance commitment exerted an
influence on change to counter-persuasion. We concluded that continuance commitment has no
significant influence on this manifestation of relationship loyalty while normative commitment
significantly and positively influences the propensity to change retailer after counter-persuasion.
This result does not reach that of Bansal et al (2004) that normative commitment hinders change
as a result of counter- persuasion.
The last part is the interpretation of the results related to the mediating role of
commitment in the model of relationship loyalty to the retailer. Firstly, commitment appears as a
central variable, as the influence of trust on consumer responses to dissatisfaction and counterpersuasion through commitment. Indeed, the test of the hypothesis H3 showed the mediating role
of commitment, which confirms the work of Morgan and Hunt (1994), who stated that both
commitment and trust plays the role of mediating variables in the KMV model.
The second result that deserves to be highlighted, postulates that the direct influence of
credibility and affective commitment on consumer responses to situations of dissatisfaction and
counter-persuasion is greater than that of benevolence.
This result suggests that the credibility and affective commitment better explain
propensity to behave toward dissatisfaction and counter-persuasion than benevolence. Thus, in
order to promote positive responses to situations of dissatisfaction and counter-persuasion,
retailer should improve its competence and honesty and strengthen the customer affective
commitment to retailer.
Finally, if we focus on the link between the two dimensions of trust on the one hand, and
relationship loyalty on the other, we find that credibility and benevolence influence in the same
157
way affective commitment. However, the effect of credibility on consumers’ propensity to
behave in critical situations is stronger than that of benevolence. This leads us to believe that the
influence of credibility on relationship loyalty is stronger than the impact of benevolence on
relationship loyalty. Thus, the more the customer considers retailer as honest and competent, the
more they will be relationally loyal to retailer.
V-Conclusion
This research set two main objectives. It is first of all to improve study the customer
relationship loyalty to retailer while taking into account favorable responses to dissatisfaction
and counter-persuasion and multidimensional commitment. More specifically, it is a question of
verifying whether affective, normative and continuity commitment play a role in the
configuration of the relationship loyalty. The second purpose of this research work is to show the
mediating role of commitment in the relationship trust-relationship loyalty of a customer to
retailer.
On a theoretical level, this study allows to integrate normative commitment and
continuance commitment in the configuration of the customer relationship loyalty to retailer. It
allows also strengthening the position which it will be advisable to grant commitment and
particularly affective commitment in the study of the relationship trust-relationship loyalty to
retailer. From a managerial perspective, this study is useful for marketing managers since it
allows retailers to show them the importance of the situation and its role in explaining consumer
behavior.
Moreover, it allows to draw their attention to the opportunity to build and maintain a long
term relationship with their customers, based on trust and commitment to develop long term
customer loyalty. Indeed, the commitment, particularly affective commitment is an essential
variable in the development of customer relationship loyalty, as it has a direct impact on
consumer responses to dissatisfaction and counter-persuasion. Following the investigation,
results show the influence of trust (credibility and benevolence) on commitment (affective
commitment, continuity and normative). In addition, a positive relationship was found between
affective commitment, on the one hand and complaint, short-term sacrifice and participation in
the definition of products and services, on the other. However, affective commitment has a
negative influence on negative word of mouth, opportunism and change to counter-persuasion.
Moreover, it should be noted that continuance commitment has no significant influence on
change to counter-persuasion, while a positive relationship between normative commitment and
change has been demonstrated.
A number of theoretical and methodological limitations has been reached from result. On
the theoretical limits, it appears that the typology of responses to dissatisfaction and counterpersuasion deserves further study. On the one hand, the concept of participation in the definition
of products and services should find a more precise definition. On the other hand, relationships
between responses of consumer dissatisfaction and counter-persuasion have not been considered.
Moreover, if this work shows the central role of affective commitment in the loyalty model,
dynamics of commitment have been neglected. Regarding methodological limitations, the
empirical study took place in an area with a unique sample of customers of a single retailer. It
would be interesting to replicate this study in other brands and different products. Then the scales
constructed to measure different concepts have not been developed for this study. They have
been adapted or even transferred to other sectors. This choice may affect the internal consistency
of the scale for a new ground. Finally, the mediating role of commitment was partially tested,
158
which is due to the complexity of the model which involves a large number of relationships
between latent variables.
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